The modern wave of NYC hardcore birthed in the mid-aughts by bands like Crazy Spirit, Dawn of Humans, and Hank Wood & The Hammerheads, though still in tact, started to shift a little over a year ago. In the time frame between the 2014 and 2015 iterations of New York’s Alright, the scene essentially drew and quartered itself, symbolically bookending a vital chapter in the contemporary scene on what would end up (supposedly) being the last year of the fest. Some found the light mangled at the altar of classic rock (Cheena), others soldiered on faithfully down the bung horrorshow short a six-string (Mommy), and, in the case of L.O.T.I.O.N., they time-warped just past the apocalypse only to find it chronologically much closer to the present than we could’ve thought.

Started by local illustrator/designer and SURVIVAL member Alexander Heir, L.O.T.I.O.N. has evolved into a full industrial band, some cyborg of human angst and mechanical spasm melding punk guitar playing and blown-out e-drum into full tech-horror. It’s an aesthetic that could be construed as “futuristic” in a kitschy way, but it’s strangely, and rather scarily, relevant to our current era, one where we’re always being looked at and don’t really know what to look forward to. The post-9/11 dread of a budding police nation that Hank Wood espoused as street-level wisdom on their debut record, though serious and felt, almost felt like a game of cops and robbers by comparison. In L.O.T.I.O.N.’s world, the chances are slimmer and the stakes are more dire, as we’ve grown outnumbered and outmatched. One of the final lyrics of “Vid The Pigs,” a track from their debut full-length Digital Control And Man's Obsolescence lays it out most plainly: “Technology / is a weapon / use it / or be abused by it."

Digital Control And Man's Obsolescence is out soon on Toxic State Records. L.O.T.I.O.N. will be having their record release show this Saturday July 18th at The Silent Barn in Brooklyn, alongside Sadist, Aspects of War, Murderer, and Mommy. Physical copies will be available at the show.